Reviewing 7 crypto projects backed by Vitalik: some yielded hundredfold returns, others have ceased operations
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Reviewing 7 crypto projects backed by Vitalik: some yielded hundredfold returns, others have ceased operations
There were well-known projects like StarkNet and Polymarket, as well as Nocturne, which performed poorly and announced the cessation of operations in June this year.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Frank, PANews
As a leader in the crypto industry, Vitalik Buterin remains actively involved at the forefront. Beyond his well-known role as Ethereum's co-founder, Vitalik has also invested personally in several new crypto projects. On June 28, MegaETH—a Layer 2 project aiming to build an ultra-high-performance real-time EVM—announced it had raised $20 million in funding, with Vitalik appearing on the list of investors. PANews reviews the crypto projects Vitalik has invested in to assess how successful he has been as an investor.
According to publicly available information, Vitalik has so far invested in seven crypto projects. These include notable names such as StarkNet and Polymarket, as well as Nocturne, which performed poorly and announced in June this year that it would cease operations.
StarkNet: Maximum Return of 146x
StarkNet is a permissionless, decentralized validity-rollup (also known as a "ZK-Rollup") operating as a Layer 2 network on Ethereum. In May 2018, Vitalik participated in StarkNet’s seed round, which raised a total of $6 million; however, the exact size of his investment was not disclosed. According to Chainbroker data, the token cost during StarkNet’s seed round was $0.025, and the STRK token later reached a high of $3.66. This gave Vitalik a peak return of 146 times his initial investment. Although the current STRK price has dropped to $0.675, this still represents a 27-fold return based on his original cost.
In addition to financial support, Vitalik has repeatedly expressed public endorsement of StarkNet on social media.
To date, StarkNet has raised a total of $260 million. Its most recent funding round occurred in May 2022, when it secured $100 million at an $8 billion valuation.
In February 2024, StarkNet completed its first token airdrop and launched its native token. In May, Vitalik unlocked 845,205 STRK tokens worth $1.08 million. As of now, Vitalik has not sold any of his STRK holdings.
Aztec Network: Quiet After $100 Million Funding
Aztec Network is the first cross-chain privacy bridge on Ethereum. In 2021, Aztec announced a $17 million Series A round led by Paradigm, with Vitalik participating. In fact, as early as 2020, Vitalik publicly supported Aztec Network on social media, sharing his participation in its testnet and tweeting that with Aztec moving into ZK rollups, Layer 2 scaling and privacy were imminent.
In 2022, Aztec Network raised another $100 million in a Series B round, bringing its total funding to $119 million. In 2023, the project launched the Aztec Sandbox Alpha program for developers, widely seen as a precursor to a potential token airdrop. However, as of June 2024, no official airdrop plan has been announced, and market interest has gradually declined. This appears to stem from weak marketing capabilities. The latest update indicates that Aztec has appointed Claire Kart, formerly head of marketing at Risc Zero, as its new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).
Kakarot: An Innovative Experiment in the Starknet Ecosystem
Kakarot is an EVM implemented in Cairo language on Starknet, considered a key innovative experiment within the Starknet ecosystem. In June 2023, Kakarot tweeted that it had completed a Pre-Seed funding round, with participants including Vitalik Buterin and StarkWare. The specific funding amount was not disclosed. However, as early as November 2022, Vitalik had shared Kakarot’s open-source code, calling it “super cool.” On May 22, 2024, Kakarot announced the launch of its testnet.
Nocturne: A Short-Lived Privacy Protocol
Nocturne was a privacy protocol on Ethereum designed to enable anonymous transactions within the Ethereum ecosystem. Founded in 2023, the project announced a $6 million seed round in October 2023, with Vitalik among the investors. In November 2023, Nocturne deployed its V1 version on the Ethereum mainnet but shut down the protocol by January 2024. On June 6, Nocturne announced it would gradually cease operations while maintaining front-end withdrawal functionality.
Overall, Nocturne may be one of Vitalik’s more unsuccessful investments, but its shutdown reflects broader challenges facing the privacy sector. That said, the team handled the wind-down responsibly, preserving user access to funds—thus not entirely wasting Vitalik’s support.
Daimo: A Wallet App With Weak Marketing
Daimo is a mnemonic-free stablecoin wallet. In March 2024, it announced a $2 million seed round, with Vitalik participating as an investor. Also in March, Vitalik mentioned Daimo in a blog post, comparing it to Venmo on Ethereum (a popular crypto payment app). However, Daimo’s outreach efforts have so far been underwhelming, with only around 3,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter).
Polymarket: Rapid Growth Driven by U.S. Election Frenzy
Polymarket is a decentralized prediction market platform allowing users to bet on the world’s most controversial topics. Since launching in 2020, it has emerged as a leading player in the decentralized prediction space. In March 2024, Vitalik tweeted data from Polymarket regarding the reduction in gas fees following the EIP-4844 upgrade. In May 2024, Polymarket announced a $45 million Series B round, with Vitalik Buterin joining the investment.
On July 2, Vitalik noted on social media: "In my Twitter circle, it's becoming very normal for people to cite Polymarket, Metaculus, or http://electionbettingodds.com as evidence of the real-world impact of political events." In June 2024, amid rising U.S. presidential election momentum, Polymarket recorded $100 million in trading volume—an all-time high. As election热度 continues to grow, Polymarket is expected to maintain strong market attention.
MegaETH: A New Hope for Ethereum L2?
MegaETH is the most recent project Vitalik has backed. On June 28, MegaLabs announced a $20 million seed round. MegaETH claims two core technologies—heterogeneous blockchain architecture and a "hyper-optimized" EVM execution environment—that can boost TPS to 100,000. The project has not yet officially launched, but given its ambitious goals and growing market interest, MegaETH could become a key weapon for Ethereum in competing against Solana.
Of the seven projects Vitalik has invested in, most are innovative infrastructure initiatives focused on privacy protocols, EVMs, Layer 2 solutions, and wallets. So far, only StarkNet has issued a token, providing Vitalik with tangible financial returns. Among them are short-lived ventures like Nocturne, breakout hits like Polymarket riding macro trends, and potential future stars like MegaETH.
Overall, from a purely financial standpoint, Vitalik’s investment track record may not be considered highly successful. However, his choices clearly prioritize advancing the Ethereum ecosystem over profit. Moreover, the sizes of his investments have never been disclosed, suggesting that his involvement often carries more strategic weight than financial significance. Still, as shown by the trajectories of Nocturne and Daimo, even a "V神" (God Vitalik) endorsement isn’t enough to guarantee market trust—the ultimate test lies in product design and operational execution earning widespread user adoption.
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